Mobile networks (also referred to as wireless or cellular networks) include a plurality of base stations that use radio signals to communicate with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. A base station controller interfaces with tens or hundreds of base stations, provides control over the base stations, and provides the mobile devices in range of the base stations access to a core network. For example, a base station controller may control the base stations by implementing the allocation of radio channels for the base stations and deciding how the mobile devices are handed off between the base stations.
Mobile network service providers have long desired a mobile network that is self-configuring, self-operating and self-organizing. For example, service providers desire base stations that automatically optimize their radio parameters (e.g., antenna tilt, power output, interference control, hand-off's, etc.), locate neighbors (peers that are geographically proximate to each other), compute their physical cell ID's, etc. The concept of Self-Organizing Networks (SON) was proposed in 3GPP, and some use cases were described in 3GPP TR 36.902. A new X2 interface between the base stations allows for a limited set of data to be exchanged between the base stations using the X2 Application Protocol (X2AP, described in 3GPP TS 36.423).
One disadvantage of X2AP is that it lacks specialized support for exchanging vendor specific operational data between base stations. Because X2AP is a standard, it generally implements only the most basic of data exchanges between base stations. Typically, a base station vendor attempts to differentiate over its competitors by implementing proprietary protocols between its base stations and the base station controller to allow the vendor to support specialized operational data exchanges between their base stations via the base station controller. For example, the proprietary protocol may support new SON functions that arise due to the development and implementation of new ideas, which are not supported in a standardized protocol such as X2AP.
When a mobile network is deployed with base stations supplied by different vendors, a mixture of proprietary protocols used by the base stations when communicating with the base station controller may hinder the ability of the base stations to coordinate with each other effectively. This reduces the effectiveness of mobile network in a multi-protocol base station environment.